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"Please, don't make me go," Sadie begged.

I heard Amos tell her something over the phone and she snapped it shut, wringing her hands in frustration.

"Sadie, you have to go to school," I said, rolling my eyes. "You have to learn."

"I could learn online," Sadie said, sitting down on the couch. She chewed irritably on her gum and crossed her arms.

"You need social interaction," I tried again. Sadie looked away from me and muttered that that was, in fact, the last thing she wanted. I sighed, Sadie was getting anti-social. I assumed it was from hormones, but then again, what did I know? She sure cuddled up to Walt.

Zia patted Sadie's shoulder in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Sadie, I know you hate school, but it hasn't even started yet and you're trying to get out of it," I said. "Are you really that worried?"

"Yes!" she snapped. She bit her lips and her hand brushed her stomach as she crossed her arms. Not even a week had passed since she had realized she was pregnant and she was already making herself sick with worry. Literally. She was so stressed she was physically making herself sick to the point that she could barely hold down any food.

I studied her. She looked weak and starved from not eating. In fact, now that I was looking at her, she was almost scary thin. Her wrists were bony. Her cheeks looked sunken. How had she wilted away so fast? How had I not noticed her wilting away?

I had been gone for the past few days to the Nome in San Francisco, but still, seeing Sadie like this wasn't comforting. Walt and Jaz were gone too; they'd left before me and weren't supposed to be back till tomorrow. Perhaps it was time for them to come home a little early…

"How about you get some sleep and I'll try to reason with Amos?" I offered. "You look tired." She really did too.

Sadie looked relieved. She got up and shuffled up the stairs, looking worn out. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Walt's number.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Yeah, hey, it's Carter, you need to come back home."

Walt and Jaz came back immediately. When they stepped out of the portal, Walt ran for Sadie's room before I could even ask him how the trip had gone. Jaz hung back and explained that Walt had been worried about Sadie since they'd left.

"He didn't really want to come in the first place, but I thought it would be a nice break," Jaz said. She wrinkled her nose, "it was awful though. Thank the gods for Sadie. I don't think I could have made it through another day."

I cracked a smile, "Was it that bad?"

Jaz nodded earnestly. She slung her healer's bag over her shoulder, "So, what's wrong with Sadie?"

I started to walk back in the house and Jaz followed, "She looks awful," I said quietly.

Jaz nodded sadly, her cheer disappearing, "I didn't think she was going to have an easy pregnancy. She's terrified that the baby will inherit Walt's curse, or that she'll be a bad mother, or that she'll be bullied at school-although, I don't think she needs to be so worried about that last one. Walt's a little over-protective anyway, let alone when he actually considers her fragile. I don't think anyone would be able to bully her."

I nodded, chewing on my lips. I hadn't even considered the kid having Walt's curse. No wonder Sadie was killing herself with stress. I would be too if I were in her combat boots. We made our way to Sadie's room and I mulled over everything.

When we got there Walt was fussing over Sadie like an old hen. She batted him away, her cheeks bright red with exertion from arguing with him.

"Walt, I'm fine, really," she exclaimed. She went to stand up again and Walt ushered her back down.

"Sadie, you look exhausted," he scolded. Sadie squirmed and tried to stand up again and he gently pushed her back on the bed. I figured he had about five seconds before her embarrassed and sleepy persona turned to aggravated and vicious.

"Okay, you two, that's enough," Jaz called before Sadie could try to get up again-or worse, get worked up. She walked over and looked Sadie over.

"Sadie, honestly," Jaz sighed. "You need to calm down. There is no reason to be stressing yourself out like this." She turned to Walt. "You keep Sadie on bed rest until she's recovered. Make her eat and sleep. She's not allowed to leave the room. At all. Neither are you."

Walt nodded, his lips twitching, "Yes mother."

Jaz smacked him upside the head. "Behave!"

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After Jaz left, Sadie seemed to give up fighting with me. I sat next to her on the bed and she flopped on the bed, too tired to ask me how the trip had gone. I pet her hair, murmuring that she needed to be more careful with her health. She felt frail and small under my hands.

"I was just worried," Sadie said. Her words were warbled and slurred from how tired she was and it took a moment to realize what she had said.

"Yes and now everyone is worried about you," I scolded gently. "Please, please, be more careful. It's not only about you anymore," I rubbed her stomach. It was a wonder she still had the baby with how small she'd become. If she wasn't careful, she was going to have a miscarriage.

"You wilt so fast," I murmured. "It takes no time at all for you to become small and weak."

"I'm not weak!" Sadie exclaimed indignantly, waking up a little to glare at me.

I took her wrist and held it in front of her, squeezing gently on her bone. She winced and I let her go, sighing worriedly.

I hugged her and rubbed her shoulders, trying to warm my hands up. Sadie closed her eyes and shifted around, getting comfy in my side. She was asleep faster that I could say 'I missed you.'

Sadie ended up on bed rest for the rest of the week. Recruits kept trying to come in and see her, but Jaz ran them off so quickly they stopped trying. Sadie didn't put up much of a fight with me over anything. She seemed to be catching up on her sleep for the past year. I let her rest and came and went between working out and keeping her company. She was a wreck at some points-her hormones were off-the-wall awful. She could be laughing and then spontaneously start crying, or vice versa. Unfortunately, Jaz wouldn't take pity on me and make a potion to calm Sadie down. The only potion Sadie got was a nausea one so she didn't puke up her organs during morning sickness, which was so rough on her that the potion wasn't an option, it was a necessity.

It was calm, Sadie being on bed rest. I got up and worked out, went to my room to shower, took care of Sadie in her room and waited for her to wake up, babied her, made her eat, and tormented Jaz.

A week passed in this routine. Sadie was rapidly looking better now that she could hold down food and was getting a decent amount of sleep. She didn't look so frail and sickly. In fact, she was almost back to perfect health. Aside from her being drowsy (a side effect of the nausea potion), she was fine.

Apparently Jaz had this same thought process too, because she let Sadie off bed rest, on the condition to sleep and eat regularly. Sadie was ecstatic to get out of her room and she nearly ran me over running through the door. I hooked her around the waist and nearly knocked her off her feet as I went to catch her.

"Oomph! Walt!" Sadie exclaimed, wriggling against me. "C'mon, let me go!"

I chuckled and nuzzled her neck teasingly, "Jaz is going to put you back on bed rest if you don't take it easy."

Sadie pouted at me, "I've been cooped up all week, let me run before I get too fat to move."

I rolled my eyes, "you're ridiculous." I let her go and followed after her, equally as happy as she was that she was off bed rest. I preferred to see her bouncy and rambunctious that drowsy and weak. Now, she was wriggly and hyper, tugging me along by my hand.

"Sadie, stop for a second," I said, surprising myself.

Sadie frowned and skidded to a stop before her foot touched the step. She looked back at me with concern.

"What's wrong?"

I looked at her. Long blond hair was streaked with red, her skin was gleaming, and fierce blue eyes were looking at me with open trust and affection. For a split second, the world seemed to stop spinning. For the first time, it dawned on me-actually hit me-that we were having a baby. Another human being; a living, breathing miniature of myself and Sadie.

I stepped closer to her.

"Walt?" she said curiously.

I cupped her cheeks and tilted her head up so I could stare into her eyes. Her big, beautiful, blue eyes. If there was one thing I wanted our kid to have, it was Sadie's eyes. She looked up at me, confused.

I smiled, a grin of pure happiness spreading across my face. I bent down and pressed my lips to hers, my hands wandered and I pulled her tightly to me, wanting to feel every breath, every heartbeat. She relaxed into me and she buried her fingers in my shirt, holding me where I was. I didn't mind. I didn't want to go anywhere but right where I was: next to her and my child.

"Mm, more," she breathed, leaning into my lips. I chuckled and realized how much she was probably enjoying this. I hadn't touched her like this since we'd found out she was pregnant. Any kisses I gave her were gentle and fast. This one was long and drawn out, pure emotions.

"Mm, I love you," I murmured.

She sighed, her breath smelling like sweet bubblegum, "I love you too."

"Yeah, and we love you both, but you're killing our innocence over here," a voice said.

I let her go and looked over. A group of recruits were gathered over, smirking at us. Alyssa and Felix were among them.

"Well, well, well," Alyssa said, grinning. "Are you frisking up our mentor?"

I smiled and crossed my arms, "And if I am?"

They giggled and Alyssa rolled her eyes. Sadie raised an eyebrow at her. "Alyssa, don't you think it's a bit late to be concerned about Walt 'frisking' me up?" she pointed to her stomach and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

The recruits chuckled and looked at her affectionately.

At least they're not mad at her for getting pregnant, I thought in relief.

I leaned down and kissed Sadie's cheek.

"So…you're off bed rest, right?" Felix asked eagerly.

Sadie beamed and nodded. "Yes, about bloody time too."

"Oh please, you enjoyed getting to sleep all day," I snorted. Sadie elbowed me and tugged on my hand again, trying to pull me along.

"C'mon, I don't want to be anywhere near my room for the next century," Sadie said, impatiently.

"That'll be a problem then, when it gets dark," I teased. "You'll have to live in my room."

"I'm perfectly fine with that," Sadie said firmly.

I chuckled and followed her down the stairs and smiled at how alive she looked. She'd looked near dead the past week. It was a relief to see her back to her normal self.

By the time we got to the patio, Sadie was practically bouncing off the walls.

"Babe, calm down," I laughed. "Seriously, you're going to scare the anklebiters."

She beamed at me and pulled me along.

Sadie dragged me all over Brooklyn. She was bouncy and eager and beyond happy to be off bed rest. We went to stores, had lunch, and saw a movie. By the time it was dark, she'd tired herself out completely.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and looked down at her, sleepily leaning into my side while I lead her up the stairs. She smiled up at me and yawned.

"I think that was the exact opposite of 'taking it easy,'" I teased gently. "We need to get you to bed before Jaz comes after the both of us."

"Mhmm," Sadie mumbled. She yawned again and rubbed her eyes.

"Alright, alright, I get the hint," I said, rolling my eyes. I leaned down and swept her up into my arms.

"Mm, thank you, love," she said, cuddling into me. I could walk must faster when I wasn't having to go slow to avoid tripping on her. I took the stairs two at a time and made it to my room quickly.

"Mm, I'm sleeping with you tonight," Sadie mumbled.

I chuckled, "I know sweetie, that's why I didn't go to your room. I think you're a little tired."

She yawned and nodded, "'m tired."

I bit back a smile and opened my door, setting her down on the bed. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and kicked off her shoes while I discarded my jacket and tossed my shirt over my head. I could feel Sadie's eyes on me as I undressed.

"Sadie, it's rude to stare," I teased, pulling my pajama pants over my boxers.

"Mm, it's not like I haven't seen it all before," Sadie purred, giving me an appreciative glance at my bare chest. I chuckled and laid my down next to her. She curled up into me and nuzzled my neck.

"You're more affectionate than usual," I noticed, petting her hair.

She cuddled closer and squirmed pleasantly. "You are very warm and I am very cold."

"More like your hormones are in my favor at the moment."

She ignored me and traced her finger over the curve of my collarbone. "Why don't you wear a shirt when you sleep?"

"I toss and turn a lot and I, myself, don't like to be strangled. If I wanted to be strangled, I would wake you up in the mornings."

She rolled her eyes and put her head under my chin. I grabbed the blanket and put it over her.

"…Walt?" Sadie said softly.

"Yes?"

She twisted her hands together, "You…you want the baby, right?"

I blinked. "Sadie. We've been through this a hundred times. Yes I want the baby. I want you."

She smiled weakly, "I guess I just needed to hear it again."

I shook my head and turned off the light. "Sadie, I love you. Nothing will ever change that."

She sighed and curled closer to me in the dark, "I love you too."